2025 10/12 Numbers 6:1-21; Devoted to God; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20251012_numbers-6_1-21.mp3

Today we look at the blessings of extraordinary dedication to the Lord, the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6.

In Numbers 1, we have the army of the Lord counted, every Israelite male from 20 years up, who could go to war. In Numbers 2, the tribes are organized around YHWH’s tent, and given marching orders when they set out. In Numbers 3, the tribe of Levi is to serve immediately around YHWH’s tent, not as part of the army, but specifically guarding God’s tent, defending it from unfit intruders, and protecting the people from God’s holy wrath. The Levite males from one month up were counted to take the place of the firstborn of all of Israel, offering service to God in place of the firstborn. In chapter 4 the male Levites from 30 up to 50 years were counted, who were given specific tasks to take down, carry, and set up God’s holy tent when the people were on the march.

The Levites are to defend the sanctuary, guarding God’s holiness. Numbers 5 and 6 give instructions on purifying the camp, because God dwells in their midst (5:3). It starts (5:1-5) by expelling all who are unclean out of the camp, male or female. Then, (5:6-10) it specifies how restitution is to be made when a man or woman breaks faith with the LORD by sinning against a brother. The last section of chapter 5 deals with suspected marital unfaithfulness (5:11-31), and a procedure where the Lord himself will either clear or condemn the suspected party.

Chapter 6 gives instructions on those who take a special vow, how to be cleansed if they unintentionally break that vow, and how they are cleansed when they successfully complete that vow.

Vows

Numbers 6 gives regulations for a special kind of vow of separation. The Hebrew word ‘nazir’ means separated, set apart. So the Nazirite vow was a vow of separation. We are clearly told in Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 23:21 “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.

Notice the ‘if’. Vows were voluntary, not required. But when they were made, ‘YHWH your God will surely require it of you’. Numbers 30 places some protections around who could take a vow; a husband or father could nullify a careless vow of his wife or daughter.

Not anyone could be a priest. Only males, only the descendants of Aaron, only those physically fit and within a specific age range, only those set apart through a specific ritual could serve as priests. If you didn’t meet all the conditions, you couldn’t just say ‘I want to serve as a priest’ and waltz into God’s holy presence. We will find out how that goes in Numbers 16. But this passage makes it clear that this kind of vow of separation to the Lord was open to any and all.

Nazirite Vow

Numbers 6

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. 5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. 6 “All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7 Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

The regulations for this vow were total abstinence from any grape products, not cutting the hair, and not going near a dead body.

There was nothing inherently sinful in the fruit of the vine. Wine was given by God to gladden the heart of man (Ps.104:15). But a vineyard was something that required property and took time and energy to establish; the fruit of the vine was a luxury item. Remember, Numbers is God’s war camp in the wilderness, on the move. They were giving up the pleasures of a settled life to follow God to the promised land. YHWH God dwelt among them in a tent, and there was no portable vineyard to be brought along.

Not cutting the hair would be an outward visible sign that would set this person apart from the community and make this vow public to those around. It may have brought ridicule or shame, as it was not the norm in that day.

Any contact with the dead would make any Israelite unclean for seven days, but there was a procedure for being cleansed. It was expected that the near relatives of the one who died would do what was necessary to care for the body, but a Nazirite was not allowed to care for even his closest relatives.

More Strict Than the Priests

The regulations on the Nazirite were more strict than even those of the priest. Priests were prohibited from drinking wine only while on duty in the tabernacle (Lev.10:9), and there was no regulation against eating grapes or raisins. Priests could become unclean only for their closest relatives (Lev.21:1-3), and then go through the normal cleansing process. Only the high priest was not allowed to defile himself even for his closest relatives (Lev.21:10-12). This gives some context to Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan (Lk.10:30-33), where both priest and Levite avoided the half-dead man rather than risk defiling themselves.

Unintentional Sins and Breaking the Vow

But what if someone suddenly dropped dead in the presence of a Nazirite? It wasn’t his fault; he couldn’t be held responsible, could he?

Numbers 6:9 “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11 and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day 12 and separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

This may seem strange to us, but it tells us something important. There was a category in the law for unintentional sins. This was not something I meant to do, but it happened. It may not have been done by me, but it happened to me. It still defiles me, and needs to be cleansed. Many things, even some ordinary normal things related to living life in this fallen world made people unclean under the law and required cleansing. This doesn’t mean that God is mad at you because of some natural process, or because of something that was done to you. It does remind us that we are by nature sinful, children of wrath (Eph.2:3). But God so loved us that he made a way for us to be cleansed. God made a way for us to be cleansed from the sins we commit against him and against others, and from the sins others commit against us.

Sacrifices Upon Completion of the Vow

Verses 13-21 describe what to do when the vow was successfully completed.

Numbers 6:13 “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19 And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, 20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine. 21 “This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the LORD above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”

One thing to note here is that all the regular sacrifices are required of the one who successfully completed this extraordinary vow of dedication to the Lord; the burnt offering, sin offering, and peace offering, grain and drink offerings. This one who separates him or herself to the Lord, who lives a life of special dedication to the Lord is still at the end of the day a sinner in need of a substitute.

Separated From; Separated To

There is a lot here about what a Nazirite was not to do, what they were to be separated from. But what were they to be about? What were they separated to? This chapter repeats the phrase ‘he separates himself to YHWH’ 4 times (v.2,5,6,12); it describes his ‘separation to God’ (v.7); and that he is ‘Holy to YHWH’ (v.8)

There is only one clear mention of a Nazirite in the Bible, but Samson (Judg.13 -16) is probably the worst possible example of what someone separated to YHWH ought to look like. He was driven by lust and revenge and relied on his own strength and indulged his flesh and came in contact with plenty of dead things, and allowed his head to be shaved. Instead of giving himself to the Lord, he used the gifts the Lord gave him to give himself to pursuing his own passions and pleasures, and it ultimately destroyed him.

This reminds us that being separated to something or someone by definition requires separation from other things. We might be reminded of the traditional wedding vows; ‘forsaking all others, I keep myself only to you’. If I find my satisfaction in the Lord alone, that means I am set free from pursuing pleasure in every fleeting thing.

Jesus And Radical Devotion

It is clear from this passage that no one can be a Nazirite today; everything from verse 10 on is tied to the tabernacle and the sacrifices offered there. But we are not looking at the Old Testament to find laws to follow; we are looking at the Old Testament because Jesus claimed that ‘Moses wrote of me’ (Jn.5:46). We are looking to get to know Jesus better.

Jesus was not a Nazirite; he was called a Nazarene because he was from the town of Nazareth, but that has nothing to do with this Nazirite vow. John may have been a Nazirite, although that label is not attached to him; his father was told by the angel ’he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb’ (Lk.1:15). Jesus said ‘John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, …The Son of Man has come eating and drinking’ (Lk.7:33-34). But Jesus lived a life set apart to do only what pleased his Father;

John 5:30 ​“I can do nothing on my own. …I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus lived a life of radical devotion to his Father, and he calls us his followers to follow him into that same kind of radical devotion

Luke 9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

In Luke 14, as

Luke 14:25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 ​“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 ​Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost…?

Following Jesus means a life of radical devotion to him, prioritizing him above every other love. Have you counted the cost? Following Jesus costs us everything, but he is so worth it!

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org